An Irish Affair (Heart 0f Hope Book 2)

by Ajme Williams

  9

  Serena

  I thought I’d been doing a good job in resisting Devin once we left the beach on my first visit to plan his parents’ party, but on the second visit, I succumbed to his sexy charm again. The worst thing about it was that he’d given me opportunities on both occasions to not get naked, so the only one I had to blame was myself and my helpless hormones.

  Back in New York, when I met with Devin, he respected the boundaries I set and I appreciated that. Each time I was with Devin, naked or not, my guilt over not telling about Andrew grew. I had to tell him, but the more that became obvious, the more scared I became. He might forgive me for not telling him five years ago. After all, his mother was the one who sent me packing. But over the last few weeks, and two glorious sex-filled days, I’d learned that while he might be arrogant, he wasn’t shallow and callous like his mother. He wasn’t caught up in appearances and pedigree. It made me fall for him all over again, and so not telling him seemed like an even bigger betrayal. Would he forgive me? If not, would he try to take Andrew from me? Would his mother shun Andrew if Devin sought to claim him? Ugh! I was driving myself crazy trying to anticipate what could happen. And because I couldn’t, I kept my mouth shut.

  I finally decided to tell him when his parents’ anniversary party was over. He’d asked me if I’d stay with him in a B&B after the party to celebrate our success. Since I’d arranged to have Andrew stay with my parents that weekend, I could take an entire night with Devin. It would be the perfect time to tell him the truth and hope, against hope that he not only understood why he didn’t know until now, but also, that he’d be interested in knowing Andrew.

  The weather was relatively mild for February on the east coast, so we not only had the sunporch set up for the party, but also we’d decorated and set up the deck as well. The living room was elegant in pearl and champagne colors, and the caterers were well at work in the kitchen.

  “How about a quickie before my folks get here,” Devin whispered in my ear as I told the bartender where to set up.

  “I’m too stressed out to enjoy it.”

  “First, don’t be stressed. It’s fantastic, Serena. Really. Second, I feel confident I can relax you.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

  I agreed. He had mad sex skills, but still. “Save it ‘til later, lover boy.”

  He flashed me his signature sexy grin.

  He was right that everything was going great. My team was as excited as I was to help with the party, so they were in top-notch form. I had a moment of fear when Devin’s parents arrived worrying that his mother might remember me, but I didn’t see a moment of recognition in her eyes. What did that say about her that she’d completely forgotten a woman who five years before told her she was carrying her grandchild? Slightly miffed about that, I busied myself in the kitchen with the caterers, letting my team make sure everything was going to plan in the main party areas.

  “The only problem with small intimate parties is that they’re small and intimate,” a striking woman said entering the kitchen and sitting with a large glass of wine at the breakfast bar.

  “Oh?”

  “I love my parents and brother, but closeness only goes so far, you know. Sometimes it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.”

  Brother? I studied the woman and saw the same green eyes as Devin’s. “You must be Brianna Roarke. I’m Serena Moore.” I extended my hand.

  Her smile was friendly. “You can call me Bri.”

  That surprised me. Was she like Devin and didn’t put as much stock in class structure?

  “I have to admit, I was worried when Devin said he was planning this shindig. But he pulled it off with your help. The pearl theme is lovely.”

  I smiled feeling proud of my accomplishment. “Thank you.”

  “And I see you stocked Dad’s whiskey. He’s such an Irish cliché.”

  Movement on the other side of the kitchen caught my eye. Devin and another striking woman were walking through the hall. He bent over to whisper in her ear, then with his hand on her lower back, he escorted her to a door. Opening it, he led her in and shut it behind him.

  Everything in my body went cold.

  “That’s Evie, Evelyn Winthrop,” Bri said.

  I turned my attention to her and saw she was looking to where I had been.

  “They’re probably talking about when to have their firstborn, if my mother has any say about it.”

  What? “Oh?” It took a herculean effort to keep my tone calm and not run down the hall to scratch both Devin and Evelyn’s eyes out.

  “They’re supposed to get married.” Bri stole a bruschetta off the tray one of the caterers set on the breakfast bar for one of the wait staff to take to the party.

  “Married? I didn’t realize he was engaged.”

  She nodded. “Practically since birth. Of course, my brother isn’t ready yet. He’s still sowing his oats. I don’t know why she puts up with that, but who understands love, huh?”

  I had been so sure that I’d been keeping my heart safe, but at that moment, I felt like an anvil had been dropped on it. How I was still standing there was beyond me because I was crushed.

  Briana took a long swig of her wine and leaned toward me over the counter. “Personally, I think he could do better, but even Devin with all his talk about being his own man can’t escape family duty.”

  “Serena, we’re about out of the scallop and truffle appetizer,” Debbie from my team appeared with an empty tray.

  It took me a minute to make sure I could speak without crying. “Take this bruschetta. I’ll see if we have more of the scallops.”

  “Oh, let me have one more of those,” Bri said before Debbie walked off with the bruschetta.

  “I’m sorry, I need to check on the food,” I said to Bri, casting a glance toward the door Devin and Evelyn had gone through.

  “He’s probably fucking her. It’s probably why she never gives up on him. I swear he’ll do it anywhere.” She shook her head, but then she gave me a strange look. “He didn’t lead you on, did he? He’s a nice guy really, but—”

  I waved my hand away. “No. But he’s the host and should be at the party,” I said by way of excuse.

  Bri jumped down from her stool. “I’ll take care of the party.” She sent me a sassy grin. “Taking credit for Devin’s work is always fun.”

  I watched her leave thinking that I liked her. Of course, she and I would never be friends. Just like Devin and I would never be together.

  Idiot! I chastised myself for getting caught up in the dream of Devin. I put all my focus into the evening, avoiding Devin and not looking his way when he finally emerged from whatever that room was.

  A couple of times he approached me but I busied myself with something else and asked Debbie to check with him.

  Near midnight, the party started to break up. I worked with my team and caterers to clean up while Devin and his family were out on the sunporch.

  “Deb, can I ride back to the city with you?” I asked her. There was no way I was going to spend the night with Devin in a B&B, especially right after he fucked another woman.

  “Yeah sure, if you don’t mind being squished as we all rode out together.”

  “How’d you get here?” Jimmy who also was on my team asked.

  “I came out with Mr. Roarke, but he’s staying here and I forgot to arrange a ride back.”

  “If I were you, I’d try to arrange to stay with Mr. Roarke. Like in his bed. He’s yum, yum, yummy.” Debbie sighed wistfully.

  “His fiancé probably wouldn’t like that,” I said tightly.

  “Fiancé? I didn’t know he was engaged,” Debbie said.

  “Apparently it’s been set up for a long time.” Not wanting to talk about it, I said, “Let’s finish up here. The faster we’re done the sooner we can be on the road.”

  When we were done, I left the bill in an envelope with Devin’s name on it on the breakfast bar. Normally, we personally handed it over along with a th
ank you for their business, but I didn’t trust myself to keep it together talking to him.

  We were fifteen minutes up the road when my phone rang. Noting it was Devin, I pushed the “Don’t answer” button. A few seconds later a text came in.

  I’m at the B&B. Where are you? Are you okay?

  At first, I ignored the text, but then I worried he might call the police or something if he thought I was missing, so I responded, Had to go home.

  His reply came quickly. Why? Is everything all right?

  No, it’s not all right, I thought. I nearly told him to find Evie. She could attend to his needs. Instead, I texted back, Don’t worry.

  A few more texts came after that, but I didn’t look at them. In fact, perhaps it was time to delete the contact info for Devin. Maybe even block him from contacting me. The only thing that kept me doing it at that moment was the possibility it would be needed at work.

  I wanted to turn the phone off, but since it was the only way for my parents to reach me in an emergency, I left it on. The last text came from Devin an hour into the drive. I ignored that message too. I hoped he’d get the message that I didn’t want to communicate with him. I should have stuck to my original plan of not getting caught up with him. I’d been right to want nothing to do with him and his family, and to keep Andrew from them. They were selfish and entitled people. My son didn’t need that in his life.

  10

  Devin

  I was either a putz or completely clueless about women. Maybe I was both. I’d been so sure that Serena was into me and our plans to spend the weekend in the Hamptons. Now, a week after my parents’ party, I had to admit that she wasn’t into me at all. I supposed the first clue was how she avoided me at the party, but at the time, I thought she was just being hyper-focused on her job. Then she wasn’t at the B&B I’d arranged. She said she had to go home, which I suspected meant a family emergency, but her texts came through as cool, maybe even angry. But why would she be angry at me? I didn’t do anything wrong.

  I sought out Brianna to see if she noticed anything at the party that might have upset Serena. I’d noticed her in the kitchen with Serena when I pulled Evelyn aside to tell her not to worry about my mother’s constant insistence that we were to get married.

  “She seemed all right to me,” Brianna said as she went through her wardrobe to find that night’s fashions for her club-hopping venture.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. She did think you were shirking your responsibilities with the guests, but I took care of that.” She turned and frowned at me. “What do you care anyway?” Then her frown turned into an accusatory glare. “You’re not messing with her, are you?”

  I didn’t want to lie, but neither did I want to tell her the truth. Especially since it wouldn’t seem to matter that I liked Serena. She clearly didn’t like me. “I just want to make sure everything was taken care of with the party.”

  “If you paid the bill she left, then I suppose the answer is yes.” She turned back to her closet. “What do you think of a speakeasy theme for the club we’re going to open here in New York?”

  “I think it’s been done.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s all been done including Irish pub.”

  “We’ll talk about that another time.” I checked my watch, knowing I needed to get to the office for a meeting.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said dismissing me with the wave of her hand.

  I left her to sort through her attire and headed to our building downtown. I wanted to stop thinking of Serena, but so far, that wasn’t working.

  I managed to push her aside long enough to have a productive meeting. Then I hid in my office. As I sat behind my desk to look over the plans for hosting a St. Patrick’s party at the Roarke, my phone rang. The caller ID indicated the VP for the European office.

  “Hey Colin, how are you?” I asked when I picked up the phone.

  “Good. Listen, we’re about ready for plans on the Paris club and wanted you to come out to review them. We’d like to walk you through it.”

  I had total confidence in the European office, but I did see a quick trip to Paris as a chance to get Serena out of my system. It had to be done, and it had worked five years ago when I had to leave for Europe. Well sort of. I supposed I’d always had a feeling that she was the one that got away. But now I knew she didn’t get away, she ran away.

  “Yeah, okay. When do you need me?” I said.

  He gave me the details and I immediately asked my assistant to arrange my flight to Paris and a suite at the Hotel de Crillon near the Champs-Elysees. I added in a couple of extra days to visit the London and Dublin spots as well. It would be good to see how the clubs were doing and check in with old friends.

  For a moment I considered calling Serena to see if she wanted to come with me. Maybe this time she’d show up since it was only for a week. But then I realized that she was doing what she’d done then; ghosting me. Now anger more than irritation and concern filled me. It was time to take the hint and leave her alone.

  I finished my work for the day, and then sat back with my eyes closed as Doug drove me home. When my phone buzzed indicating a call, I quickly grabbed it to see if it was Serena.

  “Pussy,” I said to myself when the caller ID read Evie. I hated the hold Serena had on me and I hoped to hell it would break while I was away.

  I poked the pick up button. “Evie, hi.”

  “Hey Devin. Listen, my mother and I were just invited to lunch with your mom this week.”

  “Oh?”

  “My mother seems to think it will be a time to figure out how to wrangle you into control. They think you’ve put me off long enough.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You did tell her what we talked about at my parents’ party, right?”

  Evie felt about me the same way I felt about her. We were friends, but that was it. Like me, she’d been ignoring the ever-growing push by our parents to get us married. It was clear though that we needed to take stronger action. At my parents’ party, I’d pulled her aside and talked to her about what we could do to get them off this idea that we’d ever marry.

  “Of course, I did. Surely you know by now that what we want doesn’t matter.”

  “If you’d tell her about that musician you’re seeing, maybe she’d leave us alone,” I said.

  Evie let out a skeptical laugh. “She’d make me marry you so fast our heads would spin if she knew about him.”

  “I’ll talk to my mom. I’m heading to Europe for a week or so. Maybe with me gone, things will settle down.”

  “You’re an optimist. Or they’re wearing you down. You better not come back with a proposal, Devin. I love you to death, but I won’t marry you.”

  I didn’t want to marry her, but her words did make me wonder if there was something about me that women didn’t like. “Is there something wrong with me?”

  She sighed. “I didn’t mean it like—”

  “No, I know, I’m just curious.”

  “Why? Is there a woman you like who’s avoiding you?”

  Evie and I were close friends, but I wasn’t ready to share Serena with her. “Never mind. I’ll talk to my mom when I get home.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you, Devin. In fact, I’m certain there are thousands of women who would like to marry you. Some even have the right pedigree.”

  I felt like a putz having asked. “I think I’d rather sow my oats a bit longer.”

  “Good idea. It will make our moms crazy.”

  When I hung up, I called my real estate agent to find out what was up with the apartment I wanted to buy. Clearly, I needed to get out of my parents’ house to create distance from my mother and her relentless attempt to marry me to Evie.

  “They’ve got another offer,” he said.

  Ugh. Why couldn’t something go right? “Offer them ten percent more, but I want to close in the next two weeks.”

  “I’ll give them a call.”

  “If they hem
and haw, withdraw the offer and find me a rental I can move into when I get back. I’ll be in Europe over the next week, and I want to move to my own place when I get back.”

  “Will do.”

  When Doug dropped me off at my parents’ house, I immediately went to find my mother. She was in the study with my father. They were looking over some sort of paperwork.

  “Oh Devin, good you’re home. Will you be here for dinner?”

  I nodded. I’d give them the evening before I rushed off to Europe and then out to my own place. “Yes, I’ll be here, but I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris for a few days, and while there, I’m also going to London and Dublin.”

  “Is there an issue?” my father asked.

  “They want me to tour the new club location, and I figured I’d make the rounds while there.”

  My father inhaled an annoyed breath. “We really don’t need another club. Not in Paris, not in New York either. I know you’ve been looking into it.”

  “It’s not a secret that I’m planning a club in New York. Bri is working on it with me.”

  “She is?” My mother’s brows furrowed. I wasn’t sure if she was surprised or concerned by that news.

  “Yes.”

  “Soon you’re going to be too old, too settled for clubs. You need to let them go,” my father stood and went to the liquor cabinet.

  “I’m twenty-eight, hardly too old. And as far as being settled, what will it take for you to believe me when I tell you Evie and I aren’t getting married. Not now. Not ever.”

  My mother stiffened. “You’ve had your fun long enough, Devin.”

  “What year is this, mother? You don’t have a say in who I marry.”

  “Of course, we do,” she said. “At least if you plan to run the Roarke business.”

  I looked from her to my dad. “Are you saying that if I don’t marry Evie you’re going to disinherit me?” The prospect startled me, and I wondered what I would do without my family money. I had some of my own money as I invested well, but I didn’t have the vast fortune my father did. On the other hand, the idea of totally being free and clear of my duty and obligation held a certain appeal.